Singing Bee crowns first queen

By Stephens Hiland

Christi Fite, right, rattles her brain for the lyrics. Cassie Hunt, left, looks on as she hosts the event.

“Remember those walls I built?”

Knowing this one line to Beyoncé’s “Halo” won Christi Fite $100 at Trevecca’s first Singing Bee.

“I thought I would be out in the first round. I was confident in that,” said Fite, sophomore.

Held in TSAC, the Singing Bee was comprised of 12 contestants and emceed by Cassie Hunt, sophomore. The contestants were played a song from categories of their choice: 90’s worship, country, top 40, Disney, Beyoncé and R&B.

Much like the CMT game show of the same name, a song would play for a random amount of time before it would be paused, and the contestant would have to immediately say or sing the next line of the song.

“One strike and you’re out,” said Kristin Lester, director of student services and organizer of the event.

However, the rule changed mid-first round to allow the contestants to sing 80 percent of the lyrics before advancing.

During the second round, the contestants were paired into groups of two or three. One contestant would sing a line, the song would continue and the other contestant would have to sing the next time the song stopped.

“I thought it was awesome. It was a rush,” Shelby Bowman, sophomore, who made it to the final three singers, said.

The final round came down to two contestants: Christi Fite and Kaylon King, freshman. For the last round, the contestants were played the first few seconds of a song then had to sing the first line.

Fite was first with Beyoncé’s “Halo”. The song played, stopped, then total silence in the room.

Fite’s eyes were closed in concentration. Her eyes opened and she spoke in an unsure tone, “remember those walls I built?” The audience of 100 applauded, but the game wasn’t over yet.

King stood and grabbed her microphone. She picked her category and the song title popped up on the projector screen: “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons.

King seemed worried. The song played, stopped, and she guessed the line while staring at the judges. Wrong.

After realizing that she won, Fite jumped up from her seat with arms raised in triumph.